This research is dedicated to promote learners’ autonomy by intertwining process-
based learning and reflection journal. This paper, therefore, presents a discussion on the context of
Stylistic Writing class. A discussion on the roles of process-based learning and reflection journal
in promoting
learner’ autonomy immediately follows.
2. Stylistic Writing and Autonomous Learning
Stylistic Writing class is a writing course for semester 3 students of English Department,
Faculty of Letters,
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
The course helps learners develop ideas through various kinds of text types. Stylistic Writing is a
one-credit course, in one week learners are entitled to have one contact hour, one hour of
independent learning, and one hour of research. With one contact hour per week, time becomes a
real constraint since the course is required to cover seven topics in fourteen weeks. The course
covers the topics of the style of writing, recount writing, report writing, descriptive writing,
procedural
writing, explanation
writing, expository writing, and discussion writing.
In addition, the learners’ context in the pilot research [6] shows that 37 students joined the
course. The composition of learners consists of 34 students of semester 3, 2 students of semester 5,
and 1 student of semester 7. The statistics of the
learners’ achievement on the previous course is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Writing 2 Score Distribution [6]
Semester
Grade
A B
C D
3
16.22 35.14
37.84 2.7
5
- 2.7
- 2.7
7
2.7 -
- -
Total
18.92 37.84
37.84 5.4
From this distribution, it can be seen that their writing competence is generally sufficient
even though it is varied. As many as 94.6 of the learners achievement is above the minimum
requirement. The majority of the learners in Stylistic Writing is able to comprehend the
concepts of paragraph development given in Writing 2. Therefore, the learners in Stylistic
Writing should have little or no problem in developing their ideas into a well-develop, united,
and coherent paragraphs.
From the context, it is impossible to conduct a traditional teaching-learning method in
order to achieve the course objectives. Thus, the urgency to go beyond the class hour is
high. On a positive note, Stylistic Writing offers great opportunity in promoting
autonomous learning.
Nevertheless, Holec’s theory on
learner autonomy in [2] is considered to be non-comprehensive in the context of
Stylistic Writing.
Therefore, a
more comprehensive theory which takes teachers’
belief into account is needed. In [7], Sinclair formulated 13 characteristics of learning
autonomy as elaborated in Table 1. Table 2.
Sinclair’s Learning Autonomy in [7] 1
Autonomy is a construct of capacity 2
Autonomy involves a willingness on the part of the learner to take responsibility
for their own learning 3
The capacity and willingness of learners to take such responsibility is not
necessarily innate 4
Complete autonomy is an idealistic goal 5
There are degrees of autonomy 6
The degrees of autonomy are unstable and variable
7 Autonomy is not simply a matter of
placing learners in situations where they have to be independent
8 Developing autonomy requires conscious
awareness of the learning process – i.e.
conscious reflection and decision making 9
Promoting autonomy is not simply a matter of teaching strategies
10 Autonomy can take place both inside and outside the classroom
11 Autonomy has a social as well as an individual dimension
12 The promotion of autonomy has a political as well as psychological
dimension 13 Autonomy is interpreted differently by
different cultures Sinclair’s definitions of learning
autonomy become the main consideration in applying
process-based learning
and re
flection journal to promote learners’ autonomy.
3. Process-based Approach in Promoting Autonomous Learning
Learners’ i-knowledge plays a great part in the construction of autonomous learning.
In [7], Sinclair states that “complete autonomy is an idealist
ic goal” and that “there are degrees of autonomy”. The cognitive requirement is crucial
for autonomous task execution. Adding new skills
or knowledge
works only
when comprehension is established. Thus, in the
beginning of the course, teacher’s role is ess
ential to assist the establishment of learners’ comprehension. As the course progresses,
teacher’s role decreases and learners’ autonomy takes over. This illustrates that “autonomy is a
construct capacity” [7]. The execution of the process-based learning in Stylistic Writing,
therefore, takes place after the completion of the first topic where learners are introduced to the
concepts of various styles of texts.
With great consideration of the context, a learning experience which enables students to be
exposed with new and relevant experience is constructed. In Stylistic Writing, the exposure to
these experiences is given in the form of process- based learning. Learners must have the
opportunity to choose, develop, express, and edit their ideas during the whole process. With 14
meetings and 7 topics in hand, it is logical to cover 1 topic in two meetings. Hence, the first
meeting in every topic, except
the style of writing,
focuses on the skill of choosing and developing ideas, whereas the second meeting
focuses on the skill of editing. The process-based learning is conducted by
adopting the principle of POWER:
Plan, Organize, Write, Edit,
and
Revise.
In
Plan,
the learner must have a clear topic in mind. The
topic of the learner’s choice must be able to support the purpose of the text type. In
Organize,
the topic is developed into an outline. In
Write,
a complete compositional draft is written. In
Edit,
an activity of analyzing the flow of ideas and the language features in the draft takes place.
Finally, in
Revise,
the learner has to improve the draft based on the result of the editing.
Since “learning autonomy has a social as well as an individual dimension” [7], learners are
entitled to have both individual and group experiences. In this respect, the class is
distributed into groups of four based on the
learners’ preference to promote effective and efficient discussions. This grouping is not a fixed
grouping for
the whole
semester. The
composition of the group members is possible to change after the completion of each topic. With
this grouping, learners have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and their values from
the group interaction at the same time. Furthermore, autonomy is not limited
within the classroom. Autonomy can happen during the class hour and outside the class
hour [7]. Utilizing the one-hour independent learning and one-hour research, the course
set the
Write
and
Revise
stages to be done outside the class hour. The
Plan, Organize,
and
Edit
stages are strategically put in the class hour due
to the importance of teacher’s monitoring of the learners’ progress.
The process-based learning in Stylistic Writing class is outlined in 6 stages of
learning. The first stage is the context and concept familiarization. This stage takes
around 15 minutes of the class hour. Providing the learners with a course book
explaining the types of text with examples and practice analysis, they are expected to
come ready with questions. The first 15 minutes of the class hour is used to discuss
the raising questions for finding solutions.
The second stage is the beginning of the POWER principle. In
Plan,
the learners decide the topic which they want to develop
and anticipate questions regarding the topic. This stage is an intricate stage in the first
few topics due to the lack of significance of
the chosen topics towards the learners’ context. The degree of significance and
contribution of the topics are imperative since the products of writing are targeted for
public consumption. This stage is done in groups. By doing it in groups, the learners
are able to give and get constructive
feedback from the peer. Teacher’s monitoring
and interference
are still
significant in the first few meetings. The interference takes the form of analytical
questions to trigger the learners ’ logic in
relating the choice of topic with their environment. After the first two topics, the
Plan
stage becomes easier for the learners. There is no fixed time allocation for this
stage due to the various abilities of the learners. The completion of this stage is
followed by the next stage,
Organize
stage. When the learners organize their ideas,
they develop the ideas into a more comprehensive outline. The outcome of this
stage is a composition outline. This stage is also done in groups and lasts until the end of
the classroom time. The learners are required to make individual outlines. Yet, the
members of the group have active roles in giving
constructive inputs
and
recommendation throughout the process. The fourth stage,
Write,
is a stage where the learners express their ideas and develop their
outlines into composition drafts. This stage is done outside the classroom time. Further
research on the topic can also be done alongside the writing process. The product of this stage is
required to be brought on the next classroom time to ensure the continuation of the process.
The fifth stage,
Edit,
takes place on the second meeting of the same course topic.
Executed in groups, the discussion on individual first draft happens. Each draft is analyzed from
the perspectives of language features and idea development. The peer editing process takes
place. During this peer editing process, various kinds of discussions are done to improve the
quality of the writing product. The peer editing process often consumes the whole classroom
time. During this process, t
eacher’s interference, in the form of analytical questions, is needed
whenever the learners find difficulties in analyzing parts of the writing products.
The last stage in the process-based learning applied in this course is the
Revision
stage. Revision is done outside the classroom time. The
learners continue the writing process by making revision based on the constructive feedback they
get on the previous stage. During the revision process, the teacher needs to give the opportunity
for the learners who want to have further discussion on their personal writing tasks.
Autonomy is not as simple as creating a situation which requires learners to be independent [7], it
is also a matter of making sure that the learners have the capability to be independent.
The application of this process-based learning caters the learners’ requirements to be
able to conduct autonomous learning. The consideration of their initial knowledge and the
addition of new concepts are taken into accounts in the process. It allows the learners to develop
their stylistic writing ability by using the steps as scaffoldings to attain learning autonomy.
4. Reflection Journal as an Integral Tool in Autonomous Learning
